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Former director of Massachusetts General Hospital becomes head of N.C.'s lottery
A Greensboro woman will be one of the nine people responsible for creating North Carolina's long-debated state-run lottery.
Linda Carlisle will give up her seat as a UNCG trustee to join the state lottery commission. She will be the only woman in the group.
"The lottery is going to be very, very important to the state of North Carolina and our education system", Carlisle said Thursday.
After decades of debate and five years of prodding from Gov. Mike Easley, the General Assembly passed a lottery law in August.
That law lays out the basic guidelines for the lottery's operation. But it will be up to the newly appointed commission to oversee that the game's creation fills in the blanks, where law does not specify.
The commission will act as a board of directors for what amounts to a state-run business expected to generate more than $1 billion a year. By law, at least 35 percent of the game's proceeds must go to meet education needs, including help for local districts in building schools, scholarships, class-size reduction and prekindergarten programs.
Among the lottery commission's first duties will be to appoint a professional executive director, who will oversee the daily operation.
Heading the group will be Charles Sanders, the retired chairman of Glaxo Inc. and a former director of Massachusetts General Hospital. Sanders also ran for the Democratic nomination of one of North Carolina's Senate seats in 1996.
The lottery law requires three members to have specific backgrounds.
Bryan Beatty, the secretary of the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, fills the requirement that at least one member has five years' experience in law enforcement.
Robert Appleton, of Wilmington, fills the seat that must be occupied by a certified public accountant.
Gordon Meyers, of Asheville, fills the seat set aside for someone with experience in retail sales. Meyers recently retired from his job as a vice president for Ingles Markets.
Carlisle fills an at-large seat but brings a business background to the job. She holds an MBA from Wake Forest University and until the late 1990s was the owner of Copier Consultant Inc.
"She is smart and has a great business background, a great business mind", said Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat from Greensboro who advocated for Easley to appoint Carlisle. "It's extremely important to have a Triad representative because we're a very significant part of the state".
The lottery law says the commission should be made up of people from across the state.
It also charges the commission with ensuring that advertising for the game is tasteful and is not marketed toward underage players. But it does not specify what "tasteful" means and permits a wide range of games but leaves most decisions up to the commissioners.
Many who opposed the lottery's creation feared that the game would be aggressively marketed, particularly in lower-income areas.
There is no seat on the board set aside for a lottery opponent but Carlisle said that she was aware of the arguments against the lottery.
"I think we're all sensitive to those who have objections and fears about the lottery", Carlisle said.
She says that her business background will be an asset, as will her experience in working for educational causes.
"When asked whether there were particular rules she'd like to see the commission lay down, or things that the commission should prohibit", Carlisle demurred.
"I think it's too early for me to respond to that. We haven't even met as a group yet", she said.
The commission's first meeting has not been set, but Carlisle said she expected to hear about an initial date next week.
Carlisle said the only downside of being named to the commission was having to give up her spot as a UNCG trustee.
"That was not easy for me", she said. "I'm very close to the university, and I love my role as a member of the board of trustees. But I feel really very honored that the governor has shown this confidence in me".
Source: BonusGambler.com Editors' Choice
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